New Infographic on Social Media Use by Demographic

Recent blog post on NateLongMarketing.com shares new data from the Pew Research Center on social media use by demographic.

The infographic, created by Docstoc, uses new data from the Pew Research Center.

The key lesson here is that each social network is different -- not only different in how the channel is used and what kind of content is shared, but also in the very people who use the social networks.

According to the data, 71 percent of American adult women use social media, compared to 62 percent of American adult men. Hispanics represented the top racial demographic for social media use at 72 percent, followed by African-Americans at 68 percent and white Americans at 65 percent. Social media use tended toward younger age ranges, some college education, lower income and areas of higher population density.

"Most of these statistics aren't surprising nor have they shifted in any dramatic direction," said strategic marketing consultant Nate Long, who wrote the article. "We've known that social networks lean younger and that younger Americans typically have less income. We also know that Hispanics and African-Americans are more quickly adopting mobile than their white counterparts. Social media is more mobile than ever, no matter which social network you look at."

Where the data gets more interesting, says Long, is when the demographic data is segmented by social network. Pinterest's user demographics, for example, represent rural residents who are white women with some level of college education or higher and fall into the middle to higher income range. Twitter's user demographics, on the other hand, represent 18-29 year-old African-American urban residents.

"According to the data," said Long, "These two social networks are about the same size in terms of number of online adults who use them. Pinterest is used by about 15 percent of online adults and Twitter is used by about 16 percent of online adults. However, the demographics are very different, and marketing strategies that focus on these channels should reflect the real demographic differences we're seeing here."

Facebook still reigns as the top social network, according to the Pew Research Center data, with 67 percent of online adults using the social network. LinkedIn is next with 20 percent, followed by Twitter with 16 percent, Pinterest with 15 percent, Instagram with 13 percent, and Tumblr with six percent.

"The key lesson here is that each social network is different," said Long. "Not only different in how the channel is used and what kind of content is shared, but also in the very people who use the social networks. However, when crafting your social media marketing strategy, remember that this type of data is not enough. Be sure to get your own data about your own Facebook fans, Twitter followers, Pinterest followers, etc."